Scars of Mirrodin Legacy Preview 1

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Scars of Mirrodin absolutely excites me! Just like Mirrodin brought Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, and Crucible of Worlds to make Stax a legitimate deck, Scars promises to at least add on to or even revamp artifact heavy decks in Legacy. As of the point when this article is written, close to a third of Scars has been spoiled and there are some cards that are sure to make an impact on Legacy. Perhaps the card that catches veteran Legacy players' eyes is this:

Leonin Arbiter 1w
Rare
Creature - Cat Cleric
Players can't search libraries. Any player may pay 2 for that player to ignore this effect until end of turn.
2/2

Having to pay more means that fetchlands, Survival of the Fittest, Intuition, Goblin Matron, Stoneforge Mystic, Enlightened Tutor, Tezzeret the Seeker, Infernal Tutor, Land Grant, Tolaria West, Doomsday, and some other cards that see play in Legacy are worse with this in play.

Now, the only reason why we want to play this main deck is because it can hit fetchlands. Being 1 cheaper than Aven Mindcensor, this hits the board 1 turn earlier and stops early fetchlands. Optimistically, a turn 1 Stifle, turn 2 Leonin Arbiter with a Wasteland will screw a Zoo deck upside down. Not only Zoo, but other decks like Bant with 10 or more fetches will feel pressured to handle the cat asap.

Now comes the pessimistic view. Imagine there's a card that costs 1w, is immune to Swords to Plowshares, and makes fetchlands cost 2 more to activate. Wait, that's Suppression Field. And it sees no play at all, even though it hits Aether Vial, Sensei's Diving Top, Wasteland, Qasali Pridemage, Umezawa's Jitte, Mishra's Factory, Thopter Foundry, and other cards that see almost as much play as fetchlands.

The fact that Suppression Field hits cards that see much more play than Leonin Arbiter and the fact that the cat prevents yourself from using fetchlands effectively forces it into a single archetype: white weenie. Now, is this going to make Death and Taxes tier 1? Know where I'm heading?

Mox Opal 0
Mythic Rare
Legendary Artifact
Metalcraft - {T}: Add 1 mana of any color to your mana pool. Activate this ability only if you control three or more artifacts.

Another Mox! The older it is, the more powerful and expensive it gets. The original Moxes are worth hundreds, Mox Diamond is now worth at least $40, and Chrome Mox around half of that. Mox Opal is now pre-selling at $30 at Star City Games. I didn't know men love jewellery so much.

Intuitively, we think of Stax and Affinity. The purpose of a Mox is to accelerate you mana so you're 1 turn ahead. Mox Opal does that nicely in Affinity with its artifact lands, Ornithopter, Memnite, and Frogmite, and that is not an optimistic view. From the view of a pessimist, Affinity is already a fast deck and a boost of 1 mana may not really matter. Just what is Affinity lacking? It already has cheap threats like Arcbound Ravager, Master of Etherium, and Cranial Plating, and finishers like Shrapnel Blast, Fling, and Disciple of the Vault. What does Affinity need to make it tier 1? I have no idea, but maybe Scars have the answer.

I am pessimistic about the usage of Mox Opal in Stax. In a deck filled with artifacts that cost 3 or 4 mana, Mox Opal is no better than a legendary rainbow artifact land that works around turns 2-3. If you have the turn 1 Chalice of the Void, turn 2 Mox Opal and Trinisphere, you'll get 5 mana on turn 3. Now is that even necessary? I don't think so. Stax lacks consistency which I don't think Opal provides.

Memnite 0
Uncommon
Artifact Creature - Construct
1/1

Apart from Affinity, Spanish Inquisition, and the random combo deck utilizing Chalice of the Void @ 0, Multani's Presence, Glimpse of Nature, and Kobolds to draw your entire deck, which other deck would want to use a couple of free 1/1s? The answer: none. Still, I want 4 as affinity just might be good with future sets in Mirrodin 2.

Elspeth Tirel 3ww
Mythic Rare
Planeswalker - Elspeth
+2: You gain 1 life for each creature you control.
-2: Put three 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield.
-5: destroy all other permanents except for lands and tokens.
Loyalty 4

Someone tell me whether this is good. Seriously, I have no clear idea.

Sure it can produce more tokens than Elspeth, Knight-Errant, provided you can repeatedly use the +2 and -2 abilities. Its ultimate is also much better than Elspeth v1 although v1 is meant for delaying and doesn't really need to blow the world up if you draw removals in the meantime. And if you want to blow the world up, why not just use Nevinyral's Disk?

Still, I've a tendency to underestimate Planeswalkers. Maybe this Elspeth can make Windbrisk Heights cool. Tokens deck in Legacy? Yummy.

Throne of Geth 2
Uncommon
Artifact
{T}, Sacrifice an artifact: Proliferate.

Now you can blow the ultimate of Elspeth Tirel, Tezzeret the Seeker, and Garruk Wildspeaker the turn you play them. Exciting?

Koth of the Hammer 2rr
Mythic Rare
Planeswalker - Koth
+1: Untap target Mountain. It becomes a 4/4 red Elemental creature until end of turn. It's still a land.
-2: Add {R} to your mana pool for each Mountain you control.
-5: You get an emblem with "Mountains you control have '{T}: This land deals 1 damage to target creature or player.'"
Loyalty 3

I've heard people wanting to use Koth in mono red, as it provides a threat that endures beyond the fast and fury burn. This certainly wouldn't work in Legacy Burn as supporters of that deck treat it as a combo and pack it full to the brim with bolts.

Koth is more suited for big red, and it reminds me of Dragon Stompy. The optimistic view is that in a deck that lacks, even avoids drawing cards, Koth's first ability will be provide a long term threat that is resistant to creature removal. His second ability will accelerate you into bigger or multiple threats a turn, and his last ability provides reach to deal the last few points of damage if your creatures are man handled.

Pessimistically, I can see Dragon Stompy getting expensive, as Koth is already pre-selling at $50 at SCG. That aside, I foresee Koth supplementing Rakdos Pit Dragon possibly as a 3-off.

Venser, the Sojourner 3wu
Mythic Rare
Planeswalker - Venser
+2: Exile target permanent you own. Return it to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
-1: Creatures are unblockable this turn.
-8: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a spell, exile target permanent."
Loyalty 3

The only reason you want to use this card is because you want to use the ultimate. Now what permanents in blue white do you want to Flicker? Reset a planeswalker? Untap a land? I don't understand why it's so expensive...

Galvanic Blast r
Common
Instant
Galvanic Blast deals 2 damage to target creature or player.
Metalcraft - Galvanic Blast deals 4 damage to that creature or player instead if you control three or more artifacts.

A smaller Shrapnel Blast that doesn't require you to sacrifice an artifact? Affinity rocks.

Molten-Tail Masticore 4
Mythic Rare
Artifact Creature - Masticore
At the beginning of your upkeep, sacrifice Molten-Tail Masticore unless you discard a card.
4, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Molten-Tail Masticore deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
2: Regenerate Molten-Tail Masticore.
4/4

The original Masticore is no longer good in Legacy. Razormane Masticore only sees marginal play in Stax. Will this Masticore see play in Legacy? I don't think so...

Myr Galvanizer 3
Uncommon
Artifact Creature - Myr
Other Myr creatures you control get +1/+1.
1, {T}: Untap each other Myr you control.
2/2

Yay, Myr deck for the casual folks! Lovey cutey myrs! Lay several mana producing Myrs, and produce lotsa mana! Use a Voltaic Key to untap this and do it all over again! Make all your Myrs blue and tap them with Grand Architect to turn each of the Myrs into City of Traitors!

Grand Architect 1uu
Rare
Creature - Vedalken Artificer
Other blue creatures you control get +1/+1.
{U}: Target artifact creature becomes blue until end of turn.
Tap an untapped blue creature you control: Add 2 to your mana pool. Spend this mana only to cast artifact spells or activate abilities of artifacts.
1/3

Why aren't there coloured artifacts in Mirrodin? Anyone wants to try 20-lords-Merfolk.dec?

If you want to accelerate out big artifacts, why wouldn't you play Grim Monolith or Metalworker? Is there a blue vedalken artifact deck with Vedalken Engineer, Vedalken Archmage, Etherium Sculptor, and Master of Etherium? Maybe not.

Prototype Portal 4
Rare
Artifact
Imprint - When Prototype Portal enters the battlefield, you may exile an artifact card from your hand.
{X}, {T}: Put a token that's a copy of the exiled card onto the battlefield. X is the converted mana cost of that card.

There's Isochron Scepter for instants, Spellweaver Helix for sorceries, Panoptic Mirror for both, Soul Foundry for creatures, Extraplanar Lens for lands, and now Prototype Portal for artifacts. Besides activating Portotype Portal in response to playing a Phyrexian Dreadnought, you can put lotsa Moxes and Black Lotus in play. Otherwise, you can put copies of Lodestone Golem and Master of Etherium. But in that case, why don't you use Sculpting Steel instead? Soul Foundry can form a lock with Chittering Rats, but what can Prototype Portal do?

Steel Hellkite 6
Rare
Artifact Creature – Dragon
Flying
2: Steel Hellkite gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
{X}: Destroy each nonland permanent with converted mana cost X whose controller was dealt combat damage by Steel Hellkite this turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.
5/5

It's an artifact dragon that Engineered Explosives every turn! It can be recurred by using Academy Ruins! It's an EDH bait!

Tumble Magnet 3
Common
Artifact
Tumble Magnet enters the battlefield with three charge counters on it.
{T}, remove a charge counter from Tumble Magnet: Tap target artifact or creature.

Faster, free Icy Manipulator for 3 turns. And 3 turns is an eternity in Legacy. Icy Manipulator isn't used in Legacy, but will this be used?

This is the card that most excites me at this moment. When I was testing Blue Stax with Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, Tangle Wire, and Winter Orb, I find myself searching for Tangle Wire no 2 and 3 with Tezzeret the Seeker in order to keep the opponent under a lock. I see Tumble Magnet as Tangle Wire 5-8, and it's common to boot!

In my testing, Tangle Wire is best at delaying in the second or third turns or if you have other lock pieces in play. Tumble Magnet is a selective Tangle Wire that taps down the Tarmogoyf that's been threatening to kill you a turn before. Importantly, it can also help you turn off your Winter Orb so you can dump your hand down the next turn. You can then use it a second time by untapping it with Tezzeret. And when the next turn comes, it becomes a 5/5 via Tezzeret's ultimate. If only it taps lands...

With another two-thirds of Scars of Mirrodin left to be spoiled, the surprises will keep coming. With just 2 Mythics left to be spoiled, it's unlikely that there's another Vengevine or Jace, the Mind Sculptor in the block. Hopefully, some good cheap rares will be present and make it into Legacy and bring either Affinity or Stax into top tier.

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